Trados 2009 Studio - not an option for me

Gyula Erdész wrote:

Dear colleagues,

I have just read a forum topic about Trados 2011 ( http://www.proz.com/forum/sdl_trados_support/202594-trados_studio_2011.html ) where one of my colleagues asked why some people think Trados 2009 is too complicated and useless. Although I usually read the forum topics rather than contribute to them, in this case I simply cannot stand sharing my opinion with you.

Here comes several reasons why I think Trados 2009 is not my tool:

1.
In Editor you cannot select and process more than one segments in one step. By processing I mean setting segments as translated, copy source to target, etc.

...
4.
Trados 2009 does not set the punctuations marks to the target language. As a matter of fact, there is only one type of quotation mark in Editor, namely the English one: “ ”. If you need another type of quotes (e.g. in Hungarian: „ ”), you need to replace them at the end of the translation.

And here comes the problem with batch replace:
5.
In case of a project with plenty of files, you cannot replace words or strings in all of the documents in one step, since there is no built-in tool for batch replacement. SDL provides a free tool called “SDL Batch Find and Replace” for this purpose, but it is useless if the files are not located in the same folder. Subfolders or complex folder structures are not handled directly.

Jerzy Czopik wrote:

Gyula Erdész wrote:

Dear colleagues,

1.
In Editor you cannot select and process more than one segments in one step. By processing I mean setting segments as translated, copy source to target, etc.

Just click the number of the first segment to be selected, press and hold SHIFT and click the number of the last segment. Now, right click with the mouse pointer over the number column and chose the desired function from the context menu.

4.
Trados 2009 does not set the punctuations marks to the target language. As a matter of fact, there is only one type of quotation mark in Editor, namely the English one: “ ”. If you need another type of quotes (e.g. in Hungarian: „ ”), you need to replace them at the end of the translation.

You can use a button (a shortcut is also available) for „“ (German ones). Or you can create your own ones in file types. So not always that big problem.
And in fact I do type them at once: ALT+0132 for „ ALT+0147 for “ and ALT+0148 for ”

And here comes the problem with batch replace:
5.
In case of a project with plenty of files, you cannot replace words or strings in all of the documents in one step, since there is no built-in tool for batch replacement. SDL provides a free tool called “SDL Batch Find and Replace” for this purpose, but it is useless if the files are not located in the same folder. Subfolders or complex folder structures are not handled directly.

You have already found the OE S&R utility - that is fine.
And you are also aware of the possibility of merging files to a single file in one project?

I did not comment on your other points, as they are mostly true

Gyula Erdész wrote:


On the other hand, using ASCII codes for quotation marks and other language specific characters is not a convenient, elegant and permanent solution for this problem.

Jerzy Czopik wrote:

Gyula Erdész wrote:

Dear colleagues,

1.
In Editor you cannot select and process more than one segments in one step. By processing I mean setting segments as translated, copy source to target, etc.

Just click the number of the first segment to be selected, press and hold SHIFT and click the number of the last segment. Now, right click with the mouse pointer over the number column and chose the desired function from the context menu.

Gyula Erdész wrote:
2.
The QA module cannot recognize number faults if they occur in strings with letters (e.g. X23) , which is quite a common thing in technical translation. Just look at a connection diagram or a part list. In spite of all awareness, these are serious error possibilities.

Gyula Erdész wrote:
3.
Since the QA module of Trados 2009 is highly unreliable (see previous point), you need to use a third party software (e.g. Apsic Xbench) for checking your translations. Let’s put generously aside the fact that you spent several hundreds of Euros for a proprietary software and you still need a free third party software to eliminate the mistakes and just concentrate on the drawbacks of this workaround. As there is no physical connection between the QA software and your CAT tool, you have got two choices:
a) you need to search the errors in the QA software and then correct them in Studio, which is rather time consuming, or
b) copy the target files, correct them in the QA tool and the replace the target files in the project folder with the corrected ones. And hope that you do not accidentally delete/overwrite your completed and revised translation.

Gyula Erdész wrote:
5.
In case of a project with plenty of files, you cannot replace words or strings in all of the documents in one step, since there is no built-in tool for batch replacement. SDL provides a free tool called “SDL Batch Find and Replace” for this purpose, but it is useless if the files are not located in the same folder. Subfolders or complex folder structures are not handled directly.

Gyula Erdész wrote:
6.
Autosuggest module could have been a real strength of Studio. Unfortunately it does not differentiate small and capital initial letters. Because of this, you need at least four extra keystrokes if you select an entry with more than one words from the Autosuggest windows at the beginning of a sentence (insert entry with small letter from Autosuggest -> go back to the first word of the inserted expression -> hit SHIFT+F3 for changing to capital letters -> go back to the end of the inserted expression -> continue the translation).

Gyula Erdész wrote:
7.
The connection between Multiterm and Studio is not stable (4 Multiterm service packs in the last 1,5 years speaks itself). Until Multiterm SP4, you faced serious problems if you used Trados 2007 and Trados 2009 Studio on the same computer. Although I am not an IT expert, I simply cannot see the point of the standalone termbase module, especially if you are not able to guarantee the seamless compatibility between your OWN 2 pieces of software.

Gyula Erdész wrote:
8.
If you filter the segments in Editor and then search for a word with CTRL+F, the software also searches within the hidden segments. You experience the same problem if you try to spell check the filtered segments only. Why is it so annoying for me? Let’s imagine a document with 25,000 CM and 450 NM.

Gyula Erdész wrote:
9.
The edited segment is not centered in the Editor view. Although it is a minor problem, it clearly indicates that Trados Studio was not developed by translators who stare at the screen more than 12 hours per day.

István Hirsch wrote:

In my system (Studio 2009 SP3/Vista) neither searching nor spell checking is performed in the hidden part.

Gyula Erdész wrote:
2, Number faults in strings with letters
Paul proposed a WORKAROUND with regex.
I still not understand why SDL did not include this very basic function in the „Check numbers” of the QA module. I am certain that almost every user knows "Check numbers" but only a few of them knows and understands "Regular Expressions".
A question to Paul: did you warn your customers that „Check numbers” function of the QA module does not cover mixed (number+letter) character strings?

The problem of course is that how does Studio know what pattern to flag an error for and what pattern to ignore?